padouk color change

[John Michaels]

Anyone have an knowledge of how long it takes for padouk to change color.
I have a board i bought that has changed color (to brown) on one side. It was like that when I bought it. I assume that the brown side of the board was in the sunlight. I'm making a table with a walnut top & legs, and the padouk will be used for the apron.

[Brian Brown]

John,

i have had only a small amount of experience with pauduk, but what I have used started to change almost immediatly. Within a week of the final sanding on my project, it started to change noticibly. Within 2 months, it was much darker and browner. Now, about a year later, it is a dark red brown color, and seems to have stopped changing. Still a nice color, but I like the red that was there when I started.

[John Michael]

I've found that with direct exposure to sunlight to expedite the oxidation process, I can force it to near Purple in about 10-14 days.

[Raul Hernandez]

In direct sunlight outdoors, it will brown in only a few days. The change in color doesn't go very deep into the wood, though, so if you plane/joint off the brown surfaces, you'll see that red/orange again.

You can effectively stop (or significantly slow) the browning by sealing the wood and applying a UV-blocking topcoat.

[Joe Unni]

John,

I built this table about 6 month ago:

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=57835&highlight=padauk

As I was in the magazine publishers (the owner) office this week, I noticed that it hadn't changed much at all. In fact it's owner actually commented on how orange it had remained. I attribute the color longevity to him having kept it out of direct sunlight and maybe the six coats of Arm-r-Seal.

Good luck,
-joe